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CURRENTLY IN BOOKS
Christian community in praxis

Pierre Gilbert

Religious No More: Building Communities of Grace and Freedom
Mark D. Baker. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999. 187 pp.

What is a Christian community? How does a church decide who is in and who is out? At what point does Christianity become religious legalism? These are the questions that Mark Baker addresses in his new book.

Baker is professor of mission and theology at MB Biblical Seminary in Fresno, Calif. Although the book is a revision of his PhD thesis, Religious No More stems from his own experience as a missionary in Honduras. It was here that he was confronted with Christians who belonged to communities where Christianity was reduced to the observance of a system of strict rules. His conversations with these Christians led him to see that his own Christian faith had also been infected by one form or another of legalism.

It is in this context that Baker leads the reader on a fascinating study of Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. Right at the outset, he forcefully makes the point that Galatians is not primarily about individual salvation, but focuses on life in the Christian community. For Baker, Galatians is written to correct the notion that community is based on the observance of a strict system of rules, leading ultimately to the creation of barriers of separation. According to Baker, Paul envisions a community which is defined and brings people in on the basis of Christ’s faithfulness.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to explore what it means to be a Christian community at a time when many leaders are calling for clearer standards of church membership and Christian practice. It makes a great resource for study groups.

Pierre Gilbert is Associate Professor of Bible and Theology at Concord College in Winnipeg and at MB Biblical Seminary.

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Last modified May 4, 2000.

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